The Palestinian Detainees’ Committee has reported, Saturday, that detainee Bashir Abdullah Khatib, 56, who has been imprisoned for 31 years, started a hunger strike seven days ago, protesting being denied medical treatment.

The detainee, from Ramla city, is facing various issues with his teeth, gums and mouth, but has been denied medical treatment, even though his condition has been ongoing for several years.

The Committee stated that the detainee, held in Nafha prison, is also protesting the administration’s refusal to give him meals that he can eat due to his condition.

It added that Bashir is now threatening to escalate his hunger strike, by refraining from drinking liquids, especially water, should the prison authority continue to ignore his legitimate demands.

It is worth mentioning that Khatib, a married father of five (three daughters and two sons), and a grandfather, was taken prisoner on January 01, 1988, and was sentenced to a life term, which was defined by 35 years in prison.

Official human rights statistics on Saturday revealed that the number of Palestinian prisoners included in the list of the longest-serving prisoners increased to 48.

According to the statistics issued by the Studies and Documentation Unit at the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, 29 prisoners were arrested before the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994 and they were supposed to be released in March 2014 under a US-brokered Palestinian-Israeli agreement.

It pointed out that 25 of the prisoners were arrested over a quarter of a century ago including 11 prisoners who have been held in Israeli jails for more than 30 years, the longest-serving of whom are Karim and Maher Younis who have been detained for 36 years now.

Some prisoners spent 20-25 years in Israeli jails, while others spent more than 30 years, in two rounds. Those are the prisoners who were re-arrested after being freed in the 2011 Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner swap deal including Nael al-Barghouti, who spent a total of 37 years in Israel jails, and Alaa al-Baziyan, who spent nearly 35 years.

The Palestinian Commission stressed the need to keep the prisoners issue a top priority and give it more media attention.

The son of the Palestinian prisoner Mohamed al-Tous, held for 33 years running in Israeli jails, has launched a cry for help, saying he has been feeling lonely without his father by his side.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, al-Tous, a native of al-Khalil’s town of Jaba’a, is the longest serving Palestinian detainee in the occupied West Bank and the third in Palestine.

Life-sentenced al-Tous has been jailed since October 6, 1985 after the Israeli authorities charged him with carrying out anti-occupation operations.

He is the sole survivor of a bloody attack by the Israeli occupation forces near the Jordanian borders in 1985 against a Palestinian commando unit. At the time, al-Tous was injured and arrested.

His son Shadi said that the family has gone through hard times due to the absence of their father.

“Our situation has gone from bad to worse after my mother died of a stroke. My brothers and I have been gone orphaned ever since”

Shadi expressed hope that his father would be released in a new prisoner swap deal with the Israeli occupation.

Lawyers of the Prisoners Affairs Commission, Yamen Zidan and Tamim Younis, said on Sunday that the health condition of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner in Israeli jails Kareem Younis started to deteriorate.

The media committee of the Freedom and Dignity hunger strike said that Younis appeared on Sunday in a hearing held at Haifa District Court to consider the petition submitted by the two lawyers to allow lawyers to visit him.

The media committee said that no decision has been reached so far on the petition.

The two lawyers told the media committee that signs of fatigue were clearly visible on Younis who lost 10 kg of his weight since the start of the strike on 17th April 2017.

They pointed out that Younis was exhausted as a result of the repeated transfers imposed by the Israel Prison Service on him during the previous 14 days.

In a video showing Younis in the court's hearing, Younis affirmed that the prisoners would go on with the hunger strike even if they ended as "dead bodies".

The media committee held the Israeli government fully responsible for the life of Younis and his striking mates.

The Israeli occupation authorities still prevent the lawyers of human rights organizations from visiting the hunger-striking prisoners.